Saturday, June 18, 2011

It's not uncommon for realistic families to allow stricken loved ones to die. Sometimes it involves taking them off machines, at others it just means stopping medications.

Years ago I had an older gentleman who'd had a massive stroke, and the family didn't want to have anything done. As always, the question of "how long will he go on?" came up, which is very hard to predict.

Because of the size of the stroke, and him developing brainstem herniation, I guessed about 24-48 hours.

Literally, before I'd finished THAT VERY sentence, he collapsed over to his right and the monitor went flat.

Dr Grumpy there have been times when your patient's family insisted on continuing care, on prolonging life, instead of allowing their loved one to die. I remember you discussing one such case in a post. But have you ever had the opposite happen? When a patient's family insisted in stopping care when you thought it should be continued?

for years every time i go into the hospital they ask me if i have a living will ... i've gone over with it with my family and don't want to be on unnecessary life support.this guy died with dignity and if he knew how well he timed it ... he probably got a chuckle or two himself. hopefully, i can time mine that well and i get the last laugh.go mr. stroke go!

Somehow, reading this made me smile, despite my family's current situation. My uncle had a stroke back in November...was recovering well...had another stroke on the opposite side of the brain last month, and we are at the point now where he has been taken off of life support and is at home to pass in hospice care. I hope his passing is timed as well as this one...and may he rest in peace when it does come.

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

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